Tango to Bring Video Chat to the Desktop

Video chat is the hot new thing. Everyone is doing it, and everyone has an idea how to do it best. Tango has thus far only been available on smartphones. But the company has just gotten an infusion of venture capital, and plans to go toe-to-toe on the desktop with the industry leader, Skype.

Tango has pulled in $47 million in funding since it was started about 18 months ago. This new pot of money is being provided by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and is probably a reaction to the Microsoft acquisition of Skype. The desktop app is expected to be out this summer to lure in more users. With Skype’s newer software inspiring rage in some users, they might have a shot. But Tango will have a long way to go. The company claims about 18 million mobile users, but that is likely just counting app installs. Skype has 600 million registered accounts.

The new money will go toward bumping up the company’s work force to about 100 individuals, from the current 60. Some of these new hires will work on getting hardware-level support for Tango’s video calls on some devices, which should improve the experience and encourage more users to hop on board.